The Sustainability of Rural Systems. Geographical Interpretations.

Economy, society, and environment comprise the three main dimensions of sustainable development but too often they are considered separately. This book, by comparison, examines the interaction of the three dimensions in the context of rural systems, embracing a wide range of topics, including globalisation and reregulation in sustainable food production, conservation and sustainability, the development of sustainable rural communities, and sustainable rural-urban interaction. An international team of geographers, drawn from the International Geographical Union's Commission on The Sustainability of Rural Systems, summarises the basis of unsustainable rural development in these topics, the remedial policies being pursued, and their own evaluations of the policies. Rather than deal just with generalisations, their analyses are illustrated by detailed case studies drawn from a variety of rural systems in both developed and developing countries.

From the reviews:

"Various factors – ranging from the salience of ‘sustainability’ rhetoric in rural policies to the continuing vigour of the IGU Commission Sustainable Rural Systems, from which the present volume originates – suggest that the former may be more likely than the latter. ... Most of the contributors are well-known in their respective fields and write with insight and authority. ... it is a useful contribution to the literature." (A S Mather, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 171 (3), 2005)